(by Giorgio Gosetti) (ANSA) - ROME, 03 JAN - There are actors who embody a generation: Robert Duvall has written the 70s of American cinema in the face.
But his story is much more varied and deserves to be re-read because if there is a voice out of the crown in America yesterday and today, this is his.
Robert SeldenDuvall was born in San Diego on January 5, 1931, the son of an admiral and an amateur actress.
He made his stage debut in 1952 at the Gateway Playhouse on Long Island.
He attended Sanford Meisner's acting classes in New York sharing a house with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.
In '53 he enlisted in the army and was sent to the front in Korea.
Back home, Meisner entrusts her with the first major role in the theater.
Meanwhile, for the first time he experienced the thrill of the camera in "Someone Loves Me Up There" (1956) with Paul Newman, but he will have to wait six years for Hollywood to notice him playing the part of the sick man in "The dark beyond the hedge" alongside Gregory Peck.
Meanwhile, he almost always made his bones as a "guest star" on TV.
Cinema made him a character actor at the end of the 60s when his destiny met the young masters of that formidable generation: after Arthur Penn's "The Hunt" (1966) and Robert Altman's "Countdown" (1968) DiCoppola's debut with "Non torno a casa tonera" (1969), George Lucas ("The man who fled from the future", 1971) until the unexpected triumph of "The Godfather" (1972) which earned him the first of six nominations 'Oscar.
Instead, he won in 1984 with Bruce Beresford's "TenderMercies".
With Coppola he will return in "The Conversation" and especially in "Apocalypse Now" (1979) when Duvall wears the uniform of Colonel Kilgore.
After many awards and the Oscar of 1984, Robert Duvall moves away from the cone of light of success, chooses more and more often the TV, is passionate about a new career as a producer, he tries his hand at directing 5 times.
In 2021 we will see him on screen in Ty Roberts' "12 Mighty Orphans" with friend Martin Sheen and in Jeremiah Zagar's "Hustle".
Is there going to be another Oscar or at least the 60th prize of his career?
(HANDLE).